Tom Hardy Drops Out of Suicide Squad, May Be Replaced with Jake Gyllenhaal

It looks like Tom Hardy will no longer be playing two different characters in the DC Comics universe. The Dark Knight Rises alum has officially dropped out of his role in anithero mash-up Suicide Squad, to possibly be replaced with Jake Gyllenhaal.

Suicide Squad follows several DC Comics supervillains (mostly Batman villains) who are forced into indentured servitude for the government in order to earn their freedom. They act as deniable assets, essentially doing the government's dirty work and black ops. Hardy had been cast as Rick Flagg, the leader of the supervillain team that also includes Deadshot, Joker, and Harley Quinn, Boomerang, and Enchantress (Delevigne).

No official reason has been given for his exit, although it is rumored to be the result of scheduling conflicts with other projects, particularly Revenant, the next project by Birdman's Alejandro González Iñárritu, co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

The cast is still extremely star-studded, with Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Will Smith, Jai Courtney, and Cara Delevingne still on board. But even among that ultra-accomplished cast, which includes an Oscar winner (Leto) and two nominees (Davis and Smith), Hardy was one of the biggest draws, and it's a shame to lose him. Luckily, Warner Bros. has already licked their wounds and is courting Jake Gyllenhaal, who just narrowly missed out on an Academy nomination for his inspired work in Nightcrawler, to replace him. There's no word on whether Gyllenhaal is interested in the role, but it's safe to say that his interpretation of the character would likely be very different from Hardy's.